1. Interface Design for Carpal Tunnel Exercise Program
Trent Matthias
Supervisor: Diana Steer, OT/L
Instructor: Adriano Cavalcanti, PhD

2. Patient Exercise Guide
Occupational therapy app for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS)
Provides information on CTS recovery
Assigns exercises for the user to regain strength and range of motion in the wrist
Uses Android motion sensors to provide visual and haptic feedback of user movement

3. Motivation CTS is the leading cause of hand surgeries
Many people do not have access to the necessary care for CTS recovery
The market for health, fitness, and quality of life technology is growing
I chose to focus this app on Carpal Tunnel recovery, because there is demand for services like this. Carpal tunnel is the most common cause for hand surgeries, and many people are at risk for it.
Physical and occupational therapies are required for this recovery, and not everyone has access to this therapy. This app brings the necessary care to individuals who don’t normally have access.
Health-related technology is on the rise, and mobile and wearable tech make it easier to monitor your health. PEG is a mobile solution that provides healthcare to CTS patients, and since it’s used with a hand strap I consider it to be wearable tech.

4. Project Methodology Estimations – about 5 – 8 hours per week
Meeting with the client – Supervisor set few requirements but provided professional insight
Agile Development – set requirements, did research, proposed designs
Implementation/Testing – done throughout development
Estimations – Below is our Gantt chart we made during the requirements phase. You can see we wanted to begin coding and testing as early as possible to deliver working software to Ms. Steer.
Meeting with the client – Our client was not always available for meetings and she did not set many requirements. However, she was able to give some professional insight to the project since she’s an OT. She did give some guidance on terminology and how a carpal tunnel patient would use the app.
Requirements- Motion tracking, progress tracking, user personalization, care guide.
Research – We had to pour into some OT resources in order to write a sufficient care guide. The care guide covers a six-week recovery process.
Design – We created a brandboard for our app, and shared the assets we used for the interface such as fonts, backgrounds and buttons. The exercise screen went through some revisions before I decided on its final look.
Implementation – While Trent worked on the interface, I spent a lot of time refining the exercises screen.
Testing -

5. Technology
Android API Level 14 – compatible with 94% of Android devices
Motion sensors – accelerometer & magnetometer
Java canvas – Used for exercise view
Hand strap – custom-made mount for device
Android API Level 14 – we chose this API because it allows us to have better control of the sensors and gives us access to the user’s calendar, which is vital to the recovery tracker. PEG is compatible with 94% of android devices.
Accelerometer & magnetometer sensors – Simple implementation of orientation change
Java canvas – The exercise view renders shapes drawn in canvas, the coordinates for drawing from the sensor output.
Hand strap – we altered a generic arm band so that the device sits in landscape orientation while secure on the wrist. The arm band is required for ideal use of the app.

6. User Interface The goal of the UI is to minimize confusion
The user needs to be able to traverse the app quickly and easily
Action bar is used to facilitate quick traversal
Limiting the amount of screens limits the travel time

7. Splash Screen Access to all major screens Only appears when app is
first opened

8. Exercise Selection
Uses a spinner to allow the pictures to fit

9. Recover
Will be able to save the max range of motion

10. Recover
Saves the user’s name to personalize the recover screen

11. Significant Findings
Release planning – Need to ensure device compatibility before release
Easier navigation – Implement tabs and swiping
User feedback – People want this app
I want to follow through with this app, but I want to be thorough to make sure it can help people. I have been paying close attention to the things I need to refine in order to release on the Google play store.
Device compatibility: Some devices lack the magnetometer, so I would need to implement a work around. Also the display needs to be refined to show properly on tablets.
To make the exercises more reliable, I want to refactor the exercise activities so they use the gyroscope. The gyroscope isn’t as easy to work with as the accelerometer, but it offers more reliable readings for rotations on the Y axis. If I want the deviation exercises to be as effective as the other two, I need to implement the gyroscope.
I have gotten a lot of user feedback on the device.